Israel began its World Baseball Classic campaign with an 11–3 loss to Venezuela last night.
The team, comprising primarily Jewish American baseball players, struggled early against Venezuelan pitcher Enmanuel De Jesus, who retired the first 14 batters.
Israel’s first run came in the fifth when Garrett Stubbs tripled and Matt Mervis drove him in with a single. RJ Schreck added a solo home run in the sixth, and Harrison Bader hit a solo homer in the ninth.
The team plays Nicaragua tonight, in what is expected to be its most likely opportunity for a win of its four first-round pool games. It is scheduled to play the Dominican Republic on Monday and the Netherlands on Tuesday. The team is looking to win at least one game in order to avoid needing to requalify for the next WBC tournament in four years.
“As a great Rabbi once said: ‘It ain’t over til it’s over,'” Team Israel posted on X, ostensibly referring to a famous quote by legendary New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra.
The team celebrated Shabbat together before the tournament started.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
From the Liveblog of
Sunday, March 8, 2026
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
